Ardville Melness

Ardville is our place up in Melness. It's a stone croft cottage, detached, and it looks out over the Kyle of Tongue. You can see Rabbit Island from the garden.

It sleeps five. Three bedrooms upstairs: a double, a twin, and a single. There's one bathroom, and it's a shower room on the ground floor.

The kitchen is small. It's got what you need, and there's a separate dining room so you're not crammed in. The living room has a wood burner and a couple of big sofas. The ceilings upstairs are higher than you'd expect for an old cottage. We've updated things to work properly, but it's still just a cottage.

You're in a proper crofting community. Sheep might wander past. The local shop and the pub are about a three-minute walk. The pub does food. For a bigger shop or a hotel bar, Tongue is five minutes down the road in the car.

There are three good beaches you can walk to: Skinnet, Talmine, and Achininver. The nearest is about a quarter of a mile. The coastal walking right from the door is the main thing. You can see Ben Hope and Ben Loyal from around here.

In terms of stuff you might want to know: the garden is enclosed. There's a washing machine, a dishwasher, WiFi, and parking. Bedding and towels are included. You can bring one dog.

If you're looking for things to do further out, the National Trust for Scotland has information on places. For proper planning on walks and the area, the Walkhighlands site is very good. In under half an hour you can drive to the golf at Durness, or further along the coast towards Cape Wrath.